This, though one of the longest chapters in our book, does not call for
much in the way of remark or exposition. In it we have the record of the
second numbering of the people, as they were about to enter upon the
promised land. How sad to think that out of the six hundred thousand men
of war which were numbered at first, only two remain—Joshua and Caleb!
All the rest lay mouldering in the dust, buried beneath the sand of the
desert, all passed away. The two men of simple faith remained to have
their faith rewarded. As for the men of unbelief, the inspired apostle
tells us, “Their carcasses fell in the wilderness.”
How solemn! How full of instruction and admonition for us! Unbelief kept
the first generation from entering the land of Canaan, and caused them to
die in the wilderness. This is the fact on which the Holy Ghost grounds
one of the most searching warnings and exhortations any where to be
found in the compass of the inspired volume. Let us hear it. “Wherefore
... take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of
unbelief, in departing from the living God. But exhort one another daily,
while it is called, ‘To-day;’ lest any of you be hardened through the
deceitfulness of sin. For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the
beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end; while it is said,
‘To-day, if ye will hear His voice, harden not your hearts, as in the
provocation.’ For some, when they had heard, did provoke: howbeit not
all that came out of Egypt by Moses. But with whom was He grieved forty
years? was it not with them that had sinned, whose carcasses fell in the
wilderness? And to whom sware He that they should not enter into His
rest, but to them that believed not? So we see that they could not enter
in because of unbelief. Let us therefore fear, lest a promise being left
us of entering into His rest, any of you should seem to come short of it.
For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them; but the Word
preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that
heard.” (Heb. iii. 7-iv. 1, 2.)
Here lies the great practical secret. The Word of God mixed with faith.
Precious mixture! The only thing that can really profit any one. We may
hear a great deal, we may talk a great deal, we may profess a great deal,
but we may rest assured that the measure of real spiritual power—power to
surmount difficulties—power to overcome the world—power to get on—power
to possess ourselves of all that God has bestowed upon us,—the measure
of this power is simply the measure in which God’s Word is mixed with
faith. That Word is settled forever in heaven; and if it is fixed in our
hearts, by faith, there is a divine link connecting us with heaven and
all that belongs to it; and in proportion as our hearts are thus livingly
linked with heaven and the Christ who is there, shall we be practically
separated from this present world, and lifted above its influence. Faith
takes possession of all that God has given. It enters into that within
the vail; it endures as seeing Him who is invisible; it occupies itself
with the unseen and eternal, not with the seen and the temporal. Men
think possession sure; faith knows nothing sure but God and His Word.
Faith takes God’s Word and locks it up in the very innermost chamber
of the heart, and there it remains as hid treasure—the only thing that
deserves to be called treasure. The happy possessor of this treasure is
rendered thoroughly independent of the world. He may be poor as regards
the riches of this perishing scene; but if only he is rich in faith, he
is the possessor of untold wealth—“durable riches and righteousness”—“the
unsearchable riches of Christ.”
Reader, these are not the pencilings of fancy—the mere visions of the
imagination. No; they are substantial verities—divine realities, which
you may now enjoy in all their preciousness. If you will only take God
at His word—only believe what He says because He says it—for this is
faith—then verily you have this treasure, which renders its possessor
entirely independent of this scene where men live only by the sight of
their eyes. The men of this world speak of “_the positive_” and “_the
real_,” meaning thereby what they can see and experience; in other words,
the things of time and sense—the tangible—the palpable. Faith knows
nothing positive, nothing real, but the word of the living God.
Now, it was the lack of this blessed faith that kept Israel out of
Canaan, and caused six hundred thousand carcasses to fall in the
wilderness; and it is the lack of this faith that keeps thousands of
God’s people in bondage and darkness, when they ought to be walking in
liberty and light—that keeps them in depression and gloom, when they
ought to be walking in the joy and strength of God’s full salvation—that
keeps them in fear of judgment, when they ought to be walking in the hope
of glory—that keeps them in doubt as to whether they shall escape the
sword of the destroyer in Egypt, when they ought to be feasting on the
old corn of the land of Canaan.
Oh that God’s people would consider these things in the secret of His
presence and in the light of His Word! Then, indeed, they would better
know and more fully appreciate the fair inheritance which faith finds
in the eternal Word of God—they would more clearly apprehend the things
which are freely given to us of God in the Son of His love. May the Lord
send out His light and His truth, and lead His people into the fullness
of their portion in Christ, so that they may take their true place, and
yield a true testimony for Him, while waiting for His glorious advent.